I'd take a shot at Okoye if they're looking for an upside guy for depth. He's still so young, since he came into the league at 19. Ellis was played out of position as a nose tackle at times too, he might fare a little better with a change of scenery. Overall, not a great crop of free agent DTs out there.

Agreed about Okoye...definitely most intriguing possibility. Not that that's saying much.

He's a lot lighter than Love though - would be nice to have some someone approximately the same size as Vince to take his place when he needs a breath. While its damn impressive someone of Wilforks size can play 90% of defensive snaps (or whatever absurd number it was) - its not something you necessarily want._________________

As average or below average Love may have been, 49 percent of the snaps is a lot to replace.

49% isn't a lot when you consider that most of them were played at an average or below-average level. Those snaps are going to be played by somebody and whomever it is will probably replicate Love's success to a good degree.

There are plenty of DT's in the NFL who have the physical capacity to play in 50% of a team's snaps so I'm not sure why it matters how much Love played.

Ok. I said that Deaderick was interesting, but not surprising. This is both interesting and surprising.

I assume that means that they have a lot of faith in Kelly and Armstead.

They released him because he's sick and probably can't play. I doubt their evaluations of Armstead or Kelly have anything to do with it

If Love was going to be starting or playing lots of snaps, then they might have only brought in players as backups/insurance/future starters. Since they are not going to get any production out of Love this season, they must believe they have brought in players who can starters (or in the alternative they will be bringing in more competition for the starter's role).

That makes no sense. The decisions to add Kelly and Armstead occurred before Love was diagnosed with diabetes.

I'm sure they were hoping he would compete for a large number of snaps and continue to improve.

Have the Patriots been bringing potential DT starters the last two weeks? Maybe I missed those reports. If they don't believe that Armstead and Kelly are starters, one would assume they have...

What are you talking about? I'm not sure what you're not getting here. Kyle Love was not released because of performance issues or the presence of guys deemed to be better than he.

He was cut because he has diabetes and isn't going to be able to play.

If you've followed the Pats over the last 14 years you should know that outside of Brady, everyone competes for a job and nobody is penciled in to start. I don't believe for a second that the coaching staff is operating under the assumption that a declining veteran or a rookie are going to be opening day starters. I'm sure the hope was for those 2 + Love and others to compete and the best guy would start.

There's no reason to discuss Armstead nor Kelly in this thread because they don't have anything to do with Love being released for medical purposes. If Love was healthy, he'd be competing to keep the starting job he has held for most of the last 2 years.

If the Patriots were counting on Love to be a huge contributor, but only released him because of his diabetes, then they would need to find a replacement. If there is no in-house replacement, the team would bring in outside contributors.

Since they have not brought in outside contributors, then either the team was not counting on Love to be a major contributor in 2013, or they believe that Kelly/Armstead are capable of being that replacement.

While diabetes might have been the final straw for Love, the team had already appeared to be moving away from Love by signing Kelly/Armstead. If he did not develop diabetes, he would likely be with the team at least until the preseason, and therefore you are right in the simplistic sense that Love diabetes was the direct cause of his release. You are, however, ignoring the larger picture.

If, as a hypothetical, Solder suffered an injury right now that would prevent him from being effective in 2013, do you think the team would stand-pat at offensive tackle? No, the team would be hosting veteran OTs looking for a replacement. The reason: because it counted on Solder to be a major contributor in 2013, and if he is unable to be a contributor, a replacement must be found.

You're comparing apples to oranges. If Solder went down, the Pats would have to go out and look for a replacement, because they would be missing something. There are already replacements for Love on the roster - Armstead, Kelly, Forston, Grissom, Cherrington._________________
Adopt-a-Patriot: Marcus Forston - Practice squad (0 tackles, 0 sacks)

If the Patriots were counting on Love to be a huge contributor, but only released him because of his diabetes, then they would need to find a replacement. If there is no in-house replacement, the team would bring in outside contributors.

When did I ever say "huge contributor"? They released him because he wouldn't accept their offer of a 1 year "retirement" because of his diabetes. Period. It has nothing to do with the presence of lack of

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Since they have not brought in outside contributors, then either the team was not counting on Love to be a major contributor in 2013, or they believe that Kelly/Armstead are capable of being that replacement.

No. This is just false. They believe he will not be able to play. It has nothing to do with the roster composition. Not sure why you are still not getting this.

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While diabetes might have been the final straw for Love, the team had already appeared to be moving away from Love by signing Kelly/Armstead.

And I never said he was going to be penciled in as a full time starter so I'm not sure how this is relevant in the slightest. It seems that you agree with my point that he was released because of his illness and not his ability.

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If he did not develop diabetes, he would likely be with the team at least until the preseason, and therefore you are right in the simplistic sense that Love diabetes was the direct cause of his release.

Yes. This was my point. Which you agree with. So.....

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You are, however, ignoring the larger picture.

There is no larger picture. The Patriots don't build their roster on "faith". As you agreed, if Love weren't sick, he'd still be around. His release has nothing to do with "faith" in Kelly and Armstead and absolutely everything to do with being sick.

Need more proof? Love was by far the best (and as far as I can tell, only) backup NT on the roster. Neither Armstead nor Kelly play that position. So bringing them up is -again - totally missing the mark. The Pats wouldn't leave themselves devoid of a backup NT simply for the sake of it.

No real loss from a talent perspective. While he was good at times, he was also totally useless at others. Too inconsistent to worry about losing. For depth purposes, it sucks. They'll have to find a street veteran I would think.